The 2018 Africa Cup T20 competition comes to its exciting conclusion this weekend as the finals will be battled out at Buffalo Park on Sunday and Heritage Day Monday.
It has come down to four teams, the group winners from last weekend’s pool stage, that will battle it out for glory and see a new champion, with none of the teams having won the tournament before.
Hosts Border will take on Easterns in Sunday’s afternoon semifinal and neighbours Gauteng and North West will compete in the morning’s semi.
Border should head into the match on a high, having won three pool stage matches in a row last weekend after losing their opener, and they will be looking to take that winning momentum into the semi.
“I think our preparations have gone well and it’s now all about trying to take that into the game on Sunday,” said Border coach Frank Plaatjes.
“We have to have a good start. We can’t have a slow start like in the pool stage as this is knockout cricket, and a bad start would see us drop out.
“But I believe if we play to our potential we will do well. All the teams involved in the finals weekend are top teams, so we have to be at our best.
“I fully believe we can go all the way. We are playing good cricket and we have addressed the bowling concerns we had and are ready for Sunday.”
One concern for Border will be the availability of star batsman Marco Marais, with a call on his injury still to be made, while Easterns have named a strong side.
“He has not been ruled out, and we have decided to make a call as late as possible to give him a chance to prove his fitness for the finals,” said Plaatjes.
“I went through their line up and they have a good team all-round. I think their specific threat comes from their batsmen, where they have someone like Wesley Marshall up top who can hit the ball far, and then they have a very steady match-winning all-rounder in Grant Thompson, who we have to look out for, amongst others.
“But all the teams have strong squads, match-winners, and Gauteng has Protea players in their squad, so it really is going to go down to who executes their game plan the best.”
Border will be hoping that their big name players come to the party, with much expected from Warriors stars Gihahn Cloete, Yaseen Vallie, Christiaan Jonker, Basheer Walters and Aya Gqamane, while Border stalwarts Jerry Nqolo, Clayton Bosch and Phaphama Fojela will be expected to lead some of the younger players in the squad.
All four of the teams will be taking part in practice sessions at Buffalo Park throughout Saturday as they nail down the final preparations ahead of the semis.
“Our final sessions are for the players to come in and work on the specific things that they want to work on. As a team we are ready and Saturday will just be for the guys to make sure they are fully prepared themselves,” said Plaatjes.
The action gets under way at Buffalo Park on Sunday morning at 9.30am, with North West playing Gauteng, and then at 1.30pm when Border and Easterns clash.
The final will then take place on Monday morning at 10am. Entrance for spectators on both days is free...